It was the last day of final examinations at a large college. On the steps of one building, a group of engineering students were discussing the exam that was ahout to begin. On their faces was confidence. This was their last exam before they graduated(毕业)and found jobs.
Some talked of jobs they already had,others of jobs they would get. With four years of college study,they felt ready and able to conquer(征服)the world.
The coming exam,they knew,would be easy. The professor(教授)had said they could bring any books or notes they wanted,but they couldn’t talk to each other during the test.
They walked into the classroom. The professor passed out the papers. The students’ smiles became wide as they saw that there were only five essay-type questions.
Three hours passed and the exam came to an end. Then the professor began to collect the papers. The students no longer looked confident. They seemed worried. No one spoke as the professor faced the class with the papers in her hand.
She looked at all the worried faces in front of her, and then asked,“How many students completed all five questions?”
Not a hand was put up.
‘‘How many of you answered four?” Still no hands.
“Three?Two?”The students moved restlessly in their seats.
“One,then. Certainly somebody finished one.”But the class stayed silent. The professor put down the papers.“That is just what I expected,”she said.
“I just wanted to make sure you realize that even though you have studied engineering for four years, there are still many things about the subject you don’t know. Instead of testing you on what you learned in this class, I’ve given you questions that skilled engineers face in the world outside the classroom. You can’t expect to be an expert(专家)on the day you graduate. You have to learn as you go.”
Then,smiling, she added,“You will all pass this course, but remember that your education has just begun.’’What does the underlined word“restlessly”mean in the passage?
A.confidentIy | B.proudly | C.excitedly | D.nervously |
Why did the professor design the final exam in such a way?
A.To make the students realize that they still had much to learn after graduation. |
B.To find out whether the students could put what they had learned into practice. |
C.To show that she had much more knowledge than her students in engineering. |
D.To examine whether the students learned what they had been taught in her class. |
What can be the best title of the passage?
A.A Playful Joke | B.A Lucky Chance |
C.A Strange Professor | D.A Special Exam |
In junior high school in America, kids study English, writing, math, science, biology, music and art.
At 12 o’clock, the students eat lunch at school. They have meat, vegetables, fruit, bread and a drink, but they like hot dogs and hamburgers best. American kids like sugar (糖), and after the meal they can have a small piece of cake.
Students sleep (睡觉) for a short time after lunch. They begin classes at 1:30 in the afternoon. They go to school on weekdays and have classes for six hours every day and then return home.
Parents let their kids play or watch TV until dinner at 6:00 p. m. After dinner, they do their homework. Sometimes kids and their parents have a family activity after dinner.
根据短文内容,选择正确答案。 What do the students like best for lunch at school?
A.Meat and fruit. | B.Hot dogs and hamburgers. |
C.Hot dogs and sugar. | D.Bread and hamburgers. |
In America, students go to school __________ days a week.
A.4 | B.5 | C.6 | D.7 |
The American kids usually have dinner_____ in the evening.
A.at five o’clock | B.at six thirty |
C.at six o’clock | D.at five thirty |
Which of the following is NOT true?
A.American students like hot dogs and hamburgers best. |
B.After lunch students sleep for a short time. |
C.The classes begin at 2:00 p. m. |
D.Sometimes students have a family activity with their parents. |
The best title(标题)for the passage (短文) is ______.
A.Favorite food | B.Junior high school |
C.Outdoor activities | D.School life in America |
Let children learn to judge their own work. A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time: if corrected too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and the language those around him use. Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people’s. In the same way, children learning to do all the other things: they learn to do without being taught to walk, run, climb, whistle, ride a bicycle, compare their own performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes. But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his mistakes and correct them for himself. We do it all for him. We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake unless it was pointed out to him, or correct it unless he was made to. Let him work out, with the help of other children if he wants it, what this word says, what the answer is to that problem, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not.
If it is a matter of right answer, as it may be in mathematics or science, give him the answer book. Let him correct his own papers. Why should we teachers waste time on such routine(常规) work? Our job should be to help the child when he tells us that he can’t find the way to get the right answer. Let the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn, how to measure their own understanding, and how to know what they know or do not know.
According to the passage, the best way for children to learn things is by ________.
A.listening to skilled people’s advice |
B.asking older people many questions |
C.making mistakes and having them corrected |
D.doing what other people do |
Which of the following does the writer think teachers should NOT do?
A.Give children correct answers. |
B.Allow children to make mistakes. |
C.Point out children’s mistakes to them. |
D.Let children mark their own work. |
According to the writer, teachers in school should ________.
A.allow children to learn from each other |
B.point out children’s mistakes whenever found |
C.give children more book knowledge |
D.correct children’s mistakes as soon as possible |
The passage suggests that learning to speak and learning to ride a bicycle are ________.
A.different from learning other skills |
B.the same as learning skills |
C.more important than other skills |
D.not really important skills |
Laptop computers are popular all over the world. People use them on trains and airplanes, in airports and hotels. These laptops connect people to their workplace. In the United States today, laptops also connect students to their classrooms.
Westlake College in Virginia will start a laptop computer program that allows students to do schoolwork anywhere they want. Within five years, each of the 1500 students at the college will receive a laptop. The laptops are part of a $10 million computer program at Westlake, a 110-year-old college. The students with laptops will also have access to the Internet. In addition, they will be able to use e-mail to “speak” with their teachers, their classmates, and their families. However, the most important part of the laptop program is that students will be able to use computers without going to computer labs. They can work with it at home, in a fast-food restaurant or under the trees-anywhere at all!
Because of the many changes in computer technology , laptop use in higher education, such as colleges and universities, is workable. As laptops become more powerful, they become more similar to desktop computers. In addition, the portable computers can connect students to not only the Internet, but also libraries and other resources. State higher-education officials are studying how laptops can help students. State officials are also testing laptop programs at other universities, too.
At Westlake College, more than 60 percent of the staff use computers. The laptops will allow all teachers to use computers in their lessons. As one Westlake teacher said, “ Here we are in the middle of Virginia and we’re giving students a window on the world. They can see everything and do everything.”
The main purpose of the laptop program is to give each student a laptop to ________.
A.use for their schoolwork |
B.access the Internet |
C.work at home |
D.connect them to libraries |
Why is the word “speak” in the second paragraph in quotation marks(引号)?
A.They don’t really talk. |
B.They use the computer language. |
C.Laptops have speakers. |
D.None of the above reasons is correct. |
Which of the following is true about Westlake College?
A.All teachers use computers. |
B.1500 students have laptops. |
C.It is an old college in America. |
D.Students there can do everything. |
A window on the world in the last paragraph means that students can ________.
A.attend lectures on information technology |
B.travel around the world |
C.get information from around the world |
D.have free laptops |
What can we infer from the passage?
A.The program is successful. |
B.The program is not workable. |
C.The program is too expensive. |
D.We don’t know the result yet. |
Trees are useful to man in three important ways: they give him wood and other useful things, they give him cool places, and they help to stop drought and flood.
Unluckily, in many parts of the world, man has not found that the third of these points is the most important. Man wants to make money from trees, so he has cut them down in large numbers, only to find that without them he has lost the best friends he had. And also, he is usually too careless to plant and look after new trees. So the forests slowly disappear.
This does not only mean that man will have fewer trees. The results are even worse: for where there are trees, their roots break up soil-make the rain in-and also bind the soil, thus stopping it from being washed away easily; but where there are no trees, the rain falls on hard ground and flows away, causing floods and carrying away the rich top-soil. When all the top-soil is gone, nothing is left but useless desert.
The most important points of trees to man is ________.
A.they help him to make money |
B.they give him cool |
C.they give him wood and other things |
D.they help him to stop drought and floods |
In many places forests slowly disappear because ________ .
A.many trees have been cut down by man |
B.new trees are not well looked after |
C.man has not paid enough attention to planting trees |
D.all the above |
Land becomes desert after all trees are cut down because ________ .
A.roots of trees break up the soil |
B.there are too many rainfalls |
C.strong winds bring a lot of sand |
D.there are no longer trees to keep the rain and protect the top-soil. |
Which title best fits the passage?
A.Trees and Man. |
B.The Function of Tree Wood. |
C.How do People do with Trees? |
D.The Usage of Tree Roots. |
When we can see well, we do not think about our eyes often. It is only when we can not see perfectly that we come to see how important our eyes are.
People who are nearsighted can only see things that are very close to their eyes. Many people who do a lot of close work, such as writing and reading, become nearsighted. Then they have to wear glasses in order to see distant things clearly.
People who are farsighted face just the opposite problem. They can see things that are far away, but they have difficulty reading a book unless they hold it at arm’s length. If they want to do much reading, they must get glasses too.
Other people do not see clearly because their eyes are not exactly the right shape. This, too, can be corrected by glasses. Some people’s eyes become cloudy because of cataracts. Long ago these people often became blind. Now, however, it is possible to operate on the cataracts and remove them.
When night falls, colors become fainter to the eyes and finally disappear. After your eyes have grown used to the dark, you can see better if you use the side of your eyes rather than the centers. Sometimes, after dark, you see a small thing to one side of you, which seems to disappear if you turn your head in its direction. This is because when you turn your head, you are looking at the thing too directly. Men on guard duty sometimes think they see something moving to one side of them. When they turn to look straight at it, they can not see it any more, and they believe they were mistaken. However, this mistake happens because the center of the eye, which is very sensitive in daylight, is not as sensitive as the sides of the eye after dark.
We don’t know that our eyes are of great importance until ________.
A.we think about our eyes |
B.we cannot see clearly |
C.we wear glasses |
D.we have to do much reading |
According to the passage, a ________ is more likely to be nearsighted.
A.tailor | B.doctor | C.guard | D.painter |
People who are farsighted ________ .
A.cannot do a lot of close work without glasses |
B.can only see things that are very close to their eyes |
C.have difficulty reading a book if they hold it at arm’s length |
D.have the same problem as the nearsighted people |
To see a small thing at night, it is better to look ________ .
A.with wide open eyes |
B.with half shut or narrowed eyes |
C.straight at it |
D.in a slightly different direction |